When did the line between SWAT teams and normal cops get blurred? Post 9/11 for sure. Earlier? I’m kind of fascinated by this and want to learn a bit more of the history. I noticed that cops were replacing the Remingtons and Mossbergs in their cruisers with AR15s (even campus police at WSU in Detroit)more so in recent years, something I didn’t see when I was growing up.
Shotguns have been replaced with rifles because of the increasing incidents of rifles being used in shooting incidents. They allow police to engage a person more accurately from greater distance. A shotgun and pistol are simply closer quarter tools. Also, with tap rounds, the penetration is lowered thus lowering injuries from stray rounds. Because of instances of active shooters are increasing, there is no time to wait for SWAT to assemble and respond...hence the individual officer IS the SWAT response...